


making you smile

by diangelonnico



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Nightmares, plationic to start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:36:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1367452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diangelonnico/pseuds/diangelonnico
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason tries to get through to Nico. Will it work?</p>
            </blockquote>





	making you smile

**Author's Note:**

> I tried my best here. it was supposed to be purely platonic but the words just came so i wrote them down. I hope you guys like it!

Everything was great. Camp half-blood was almost empty at this time of year since most of the demigods had gone home to their mortal parents, but only those who had mortal parents. Frank and Hazel went to New Rome. Annabeth had decided to not go back to her dads. Percy had gone back to his mums and Annabeth spent her time between there and Camp. Piper stayed at Camp, Leo and Jason had no choice. They didn’t have a mortal parent anymore. Nico didn’t have a mortal parent either but he went back to the underworld, to his Father. He was the only demigod who even barely knew his godly parent, let alone lives with him. Nico felt as if he didn’t belong anywhere else but hell though, which was sad.  
One day Nico came back to Camp. He said that Persephone had come back for the winter and she was annoying him. He claimed he had nowhere else to go, Jason could believe that. He slept alone in the Hades Cabin and he ate alone at the Hades table. Cabin 13, table 13. Mind, Jason slept alone in Cabin 1 and Percy (when he came back) slept alone in Cabin 3, they ate alone too.  
Cabin 13 was next to Cabin 1 for some reason. They went in like a ring. Jason would often hear sobs and screams from Cabin 13, gut wrenching screams that only came with the worst of nightmares. The first few nights he tried to ignore it but the fifth night was too much. The poor boy just needed a friend. He heard the first scream and then the muffled sobs which brought more screams. It broke Jason’s heart.   
So there, in the middle of the night, Jason got up and put a shirt on. He went over to Nico’s cabin. He was in the middle bunk, tossing and turning and sobbing and screaming. How do you help someone as broken as this boy? Jason thought. Percy once said to Jason that he thought something inside Nico di Angelo had broken permentantly, and that the boy could not be fixed. Jason would try his best though.  
He went and he sat at the end of the bunk. Suddenly Nico screamed and sat up his eyes flying open. He gasped and stared breathing heavily then he started sobbing. Jason moved closer and wrapped his arms around him. ‘It’ll be okay.’ He said. Nico just sobbed into his shirt.  
‘Why do you care about me?’ Nico croaked after a while.  
‘Because I can see you’re not okay, and you need someone to be there for you.’  
‘No I don’t.’  
‘Yes you do.’  
‘I don’t’  
‘You know, Hazel said your fatal flaw was holding grudges, but I think it’s thinking you can do it alone, when you can’t.’  
‘The things I’ve seen. The places I’ve been, they are not things you can forget and they are not things that should be shared.’  
‘I’m not asking you to forget them or to share them. I’m asking you to accept a little help every once in a while.’ Jason said desperately. ‘The others still don’t know do they?’ he asked.  
‘No, and why should they? I don’t belong already and telling them that will just give everyone another reason to hate me and cast me aside.’ Nico said with as much venom in his tone as he could muster. He had stopped crying but the remnants of tears were still streaked down his cheeks and his eyes were red rimmed. His hair was a messy black mop and his dark brown eyes looked extremely sad, there was something else in them too, maybe the knowledge that he came from another era, maybe that he had seen so much more than everyone else or maybe that he knew so much more.   
Nico was excellent at hiding everything from his emotions to information. He had known about the two camps long before anyone else, he had known about the great prophecy first too. His father told him everything, but these secrets had cast him into Tartarus, alone. Nico knew how to play the game of sides excellently, possibly better than the gods themselves. He called all the gods their correct names according to wherever he was, at Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood. He knew what to tell people and how to make them believe him. When Percy had gone missing he had told Annabeth he was searching for him. When he came across him, he did nothing about it, because he knew that it was too early to reveal the secrets about the two camps. Nico was a master at the game of being on both sides at the same time. Jason wondered if this had took a toll on him because even though he could play on both sides, he didn’t and wouldn’t trust anyone. He didn’t even trust Percy, much less Jason. He possibly trusted Hazel but who knew?  
‘You do belong here. You do have a home here and people don’t hate you. If you told them they would not start hating you, they would not cast you aside; they would accept you for who you really are. The reason people don’t accept you now is because they don’t know who you are.’ Jason exhaled. He paused for a moment and when Nico said nothing he laughed. ‘You’re too mysterious, with your big jacket and your messy hair and your scary sword.’  
‘Really, I’m mysterious?’ Nico asked.   
‘Well I don’t know much about you.’ Jason said. ‘If people got to know you better, they wouldn’t be as scared of you.’  
‘I’m scary?’  
‘Real scary’ Jason smiled. ‘The scariest demigod I’ve ever met.’  
‘Really?’ Nico smiled.  
‘Yep. Scarier that Percy or Octavian or gods, even scarier that Clarisse and man she’s scary.’  
Nico really smiled then with a grin that lit up his whole face. Jason carried on talking. ‘You would have like 9000 attack power in mythomagic.’  
‘No way’  
‘Yes way.’ Talking to Nico like this, making him smile was really fun. Jason saw another side of Nico, a side that wanted to be loved. He had let his defences come down, for Jason. Jason smiled to himself.  
‘Why are you grinning like a big idiot?’ Nico asked.  
‘Because I made you smile.’  
Nico laughed then and it was one of the most amazing sounds Jason had ever heard. ‘It’s not that hard really.’ He giggled.  
‘Yes it is.’  
‘Not.’  
‘Not at 2AM in the morning’ Jason laughed.  
Nico laughed aswell. They carried on talking and eventually Nico fell asleep. Jason sat on the next bunk all night and Nico didn’t wake up screaming again. He looked so innocent and peaceful when he slept.   
Part 2  
When Nico woke up, he woke up slowly. He turned over and slowly opened his eyes, shut them again and then proceeded to open them again. Jason wondered how long it had been since he’d slept this long. Eventually Nico fully woke up and he sat up in his bed still drowning in blankets. He looked at Jason and smiled a heart- warming smile. ‘Thank you’ He said.  
Jason smiled back at him, with a smile like that how could he not smile back? ‘What for?’ He said.  
Nico’s smile disappeared. ‘For sitting with me all night. For chasing my nightmares away because I can’t do it on my own.’  
Jason smiled symaptettically. ‘It’s okay Nico, I’ll be here whenever you need me.’  
‘Really? Coz Percy said something like that – never happened did it, look at me.’ Nico said, his voice full of bitterness.  
‘Well, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not Percy. I’m not going anywhere.’  
Nico smiled and blushed a little. ‘If you’re not, then maybe I’ll stay for a while. It’s nice having a friend.’ Nico turned away and got out of bed. Jasons heart hurt for this poor broken boy. His words then, its nice having a friend hit him really hard. This boy didn’t have friends, Jason didn’t think he’d ever really had friends. Jason was going to make his best effort to give this boy what he needed, he was going to be his best friend.  
Nico turned back to Jason. ‘I’m, er, I’m going to get dressed now if you wanna go away?’ Jason sighed, it was nice while it lasted.  
‘Yeah, yeah, okay. Cya.’ Jason said making his way out of Cabin 13.  
Later, before breakfast Nico appeared next to him as he was walking towards the dining pavilion. ‘Hey.’ Nico said making Jason jump.  
‘Gods, you need to stop doing that.’ Jason said putting a hand to his racing heart.  
Nico giggled. ‘Sorry.’ His expression sobered then, ‘I’m sorry about earlier too. I, um, I’m not that used to talking to people that either a) are alive or b) are not related to me.’  
Jason smiled at him. ‘It’s okay.’ That poor kid, spends his time talking to ghosts.  
Nico stalked off to Table 13. Jason sat at Table 1. As he approached he noticed Thalia was sat there. She rushed forward and gave him a hug. ‘Hey. What are you doing here?’  
‘I just thought I’d come see you. There’s not much happening out in the real world now.’ Thalia said.  
‘Oh, well hey.’ Jason smiled.  
‘Why weren’t you in your cabin last night?’ Thalia asked as they sat down.  
‘What time did you get there?’  
‘It was about 2 in the morning.’  
Jason leaned forward. ‘Don’t tell anyone but, Nico has bad nightmares. You might not know but that kid went through tartarus on his own. It’s affected him pretty bad.’  
‘So you sat with him all night?’ Thalia asked.  
Jason nodded. ‘He just needs a friend.’ He frowned.  
‘And you’re the best one for the job?’ Thalia laughed.  
‘Yeah.’ Jason shrugged.  
‘He’s always been a weird kid.’ Thalia warned.  
‘Cut him some slack.’ Jason defended.  
‘Aw, come on Jason. He hangs out in graveyards. He spends most of his time in the underworld.’  
‘Well, that wasn’t his choice, none of us chose our parents.’  
‘He doesn’t have to live in the underworld and hang out in graveyards, even if his dad is Hades. Bianca wasn’t like that.’  
‘Well, he’s a troubled kid. Poor thing.’  
‘He’s powerful, more than you. I wouldn’t get on the wrong side of him.’  
‘I won’t’ Jason snapped.  
Thalia held her hands up in mock surrender. ‘Sorry.’  
They left the dining pavilion. Piper came up to him. ‘Hey’ she smiled. She looked really pretty today.  
‘Cya’ Thalia said and walked off. Jason was left with Piper. He took her hand and they carried on walking. Camp was pretty empty this time of year as everyone that still had mortal parents went back to them. Jason was surprised that Nico hadn’t gone back to his father yet but he was glad he’d stayed. Suddenly Leo appeared next to Jason.   
‘Hi’ he said, full of energy. That kid was seriously ADHD. They walked towards the swords practice arena and Jason saw Nico there stabbing the dummies.  
He turned to Piper. ‘I’m gonna go and sword practice. You coming?’  
‘No, I’ve got some new campers, came in yesterday.’  
‘Okay, how about you leo?’   
‘Swords aren’t really my thing, I’m going to the forges, I can build them, but I can’t use them.’ Leo smiled and wondered off. Jason ran back his cabin and got his gladius.   
He walked into the arena. ‘Hey Nico, need a partner?’  
‘No, I’m fine.’   
‘Nico, you are sparring with yourself.’  
‘And you can’t see ghosts’  
‘Oh. Want a partner that’s actually alive?’  
Nico dropped his sword. ‘Oh, great, you offended him!’ He laughed. Jason laughed too.  
‘Ghosts get easily offended you know’ Nico said matter of factly. Then he laughed. ‘Come on then.’ He said gesturing for Jason to sparr with him.  
Nico had Jason pinned to the ground in about 5 seconds. He quickly got up realising what he’d done. He brushed himself off awkwardly. ‘I’m, er, I’m sorry’ He turned away.  
‘Don’t be’ Jason grinned. ‘Wanna go again?’  
‘No’ Nico still had his back to him. Jason could practically feel Nico di Angelos defences go up.  
‘Don’t shut me out again.’ Jason pleaded. He walked towards Nico. ‘What’s wrong?’  
‘Nothing.’ Nico snapped. Nico walked away and Jason found him sitting on the beach, looking out at the sea. He had tears in his eyes. ‘I didn’t want to be a half-blood.’ Silence then ‘Well, I did, but now I don’t.’ then he got up and walked away again. Jason was left sat on the beach thinking about that. As Nico walked away, he looked back and said ‘Be careful what you wish for.’  
Jason sat there for a while looking out at the sea until Piper found him. ‘Missing Percy?’ She smirked.  
‘No, I was talking to Nico but, he left.’  
‘Oh, when did you become best buddies?’  
‘We’re not. Well, I’m trying but he’s making it really difficult.’  
‘Oh.’ Piper looked at Jason for a minute. ‘What are you thinking about?’  
‘Just something Nico said. Be careful what you wish for.’  
‘Well, you should be.’  
‘I know.’ Piper grabbed Jason’s hand then.   
‘You’ll get through to him. I know you will.’  
‘I thought I had, obviously not.’  
‘it’s okay Jason, you can’t save everyone.’  
‘But I have to save Nico.’  
‘And so you shall’ Piper smiled at him.  
The rest of the day went really fast, Jason didn’t see Nico again. He hoped he hadn’t left. Jason went to bed feeling pretty weighed down. He didn’t know why Nico went to so much effort to shut everyone out, he even shut Hazel out sometimes. He needed to figure this kid out, and he would do it if it was the last thing he did.  
Jason was almost asleep when Thalia came bounding into the Cabin. ‘Hey little brother!’ She said.  
‘Hi, I’m asleep’ Jason replied and Thalia became quieter.  
‘Night’ She whispered after a while of shuffling.  
Jason fell asleep after a while, but sure enough just like every other night, he heard a scream. Just a single scream. He didn’t know whether to check on Nico, or if he wasn’t wanted. He decided not to. He didn’t hear another scream that night.  
Nico was avoiding him. Jason was sure of that. Jason went to the climbing wall, as he saw Nico was there and Nico saw him. Nico stood on top of the climbing frame and shadows collected around him. Suddenly he was gone. ‘He’s avoiding me’ Jason muttered to no-one in particular as he stared at the spot where Nico had just been stood.  
This went on for a while. Jason would try and talk to Nico, Nico would avoid him. He tried and tried and tried to no avail. He only wanted to be Nico’s friend, but Nico was making it so difficult. Jason would stress about it to Piper and Piper would try to help but he could tell her heart wasn’t in it.  
Jason and Piper were more like best friends, they loved each other but they weren’t in love anymore. It took them months to realise this but eventually they did. When they broke up it wasn’t awkward, it was nice just as friends. A few months before they broke up, just before Christmas, Nico disappeared. He left a note to say, no he hasn’t gone missing, he’s just gone to the underworld.  
Jason began to miss Nico. It was March now and he hadn’t seen him in three months, he hadn’t talked to him in four or maybe even five. Even Percy noticed he was gone when he came to see them in December.  
It was a warm day for March when Jason was sat on the beach. He found he could get away from people there. It was almost sunset but not quite. He saw a movement out the corner of his eye and when he looked he saw darkness collecting into a shape big enough for a short person. Sure enough Nico appeared. He had grown a few inches and his hair was still shaggy. He was still stick thin but he had muscles. He had the same brown leather aviator’s jacket and a skull top on and he had black skinny jeans with black boots. He still had his stygian sword and dark circles under his eyes like he didn’t get enough sleep, which he didn’t.  
‘I’m sorry, for avoiding you.’ He said as he sat down next to Jason.  
‘Nico, it’s been like 5 months! Where have you been?!’  
‘Oh, you know, doing this and that.’  
‘That’s a rubbish answer. I’ve missed you.’ Jason pulled Nico in for a hug to which Nico violently protested. He pushed him away, the kid was stronger than he looked.  
‘Don’t touch me!’ Nico protested.  
‘I’m sorry, just don’t disappear for months on end!’  
‘You really actually missed me?’ Nico asked, he looked surprised.  
‘Yeah. I’ve been going crazy these past few months.’  
‘Really?’ Nico still didn’t believe him.  
‘I thought about going looking for you, but I figured you wouldn’t appreciate that.’  
‘I didn’t think I’d be missed.’ Nico said with a frown.  
‘Well you were.’ Jason smiled at him. Nico was looking at the ground tracing patterns in the sand with his finger.  
‘Only by you’ Nico smiled bitterly. ‘and only because you think you can help me, because you’re the only one who knows. You think I’m your friend.’  
‘Well, you are my friend.’ Jason said taken aback by Nico’s perfectly accurate statement, well, not completely. Jason wanted to help Nico because he needed help and Jason liked Nico.  
‘No I’m not, I don’t have friends, I’ve never had friends.’  
‘You have one now.’  
Nico shook his head. ‘The only person that ever accepted me was Bianca; don’t pretend you’re accepting me too. It might bring you some bad luck.’  
‘Don’t say that.’  
‘I can say what I want. I’m bad luck Jason, just face it.’  
‘No you’re not.’ It killed Jason that Nico thought of himself this way.  
‘Yes I am, I would keep your distance.’  
‘Well, I’m not gonna. Let’s see if you are bad luck.’ Jason confirmed. He wasn’t afraid.  
‘Fine, it’s your life.’   
‘Okay.’  
They sat in silence for a long time, almost an hour, just watching the waves rolling up on the shore. It wasn’t awkward, it was . . . nice. Jason was the one to break the silence.  
‘So, um, Piper and I broke up.’ He said.  
‘Why do I need to know?’  
‘I thought I’d just fill you in on what’s happened while you’ve been away.’ That wasn’t totally true. Jason might fancy Nico just a tiny bit. Only a tiny bit. He still wasn’t willing to admit it.  
‘I’m not really bothered.’  
‘I’m gonna tell you anyway, whether you’re bothered or not so shut up and listen.’  
Nico gave Jason a dark look as if to say don’t cross me. Jason carried on talking.  
‘Percy and Annabeth came by for New Years. It was fun. There’s been quite a few new campers come through lately. Oh, and Percy asked after you.’ Jason watched Nico carefully, waiting for his reaction.  
‘I’m over Percy. I already told you that. I don’t care.’ He totally did care, even if he was over Percy. Jason could tell it opened old wounds, maybe he shouldn’t have said anything, but then, Nico deserved to know.  
‘I know, I still thought you’d like to know.’ Jason clarified.  
‘Percy and Annabeth, they’re having a baby. Annabeth got pregnant and she’s keeping it. It’s due in August. They only told us a week ago.’   
Nico raised his eyebrows. ‘They’re only seventeen.’   
‘I know. They’ll get through it though. Percy’s always wanted kids I think. He said to me, he said Annabeth was pretty shaken up about it. She thought he’d leave her. He said it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him.’  
‘Wow.’ Nico said. ‘Are they gonna get married?’  
‘I don’t know. Percy hasn’t said anything.’ Jason turned to Nico. ‘He’ll want to tell you. Don’t tell him I told you first. I’ll let him know you’re back’ Jason smiled.  
‘I don’t want him to know I’m back.’ Nico snapped.  
Silence. ‘Nico, are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?’  
‘Talk about what?’ Nico responded quickly.  
‘About anything.’ Jason said, kindly.  
Nico shook his head. Then he spoke. ‘I’m not kidding when I say I’m over Percy.’ Nico let out a laugh. ‘I think I made myself hate him so much, for making me feel the way I did, that I got over it. I disillusioned myself so much. I still hate myself.’ Nico said bitterly.  
‘You shouldn’t’ Jason expressed. He was concerned about this boy.  
Nico looked at him then dropped his eyes to the ground again. ‘It’s just, all my life. . . I was taught to believe that feeling the way I felt, feeling the things I felt was wrong. That it would get you some punishment of some kind, so I tried to push it out. I knew when I was younger that, that I wasn’t normal. I told Bianca and she told me that it was okay, but I couldn’t tell anyone else. She said she still loved me but I had to try and change because other people wouldn’t still love me if they found out. I tried to change. I forgot about it for a long time. I think I hated Percy so much because he made me realise that I really was the way I am. I hated myself more. I’ve hated myself for a long time.’  
Jason looked at Nico sadly. He felt so sorry for Nico di Angelo. Nico continued talking. ‘I never told anyone else after Bianca. I promised to her, and to myself that I would never ever tell anyone else, that I would take my secret to the grave. When we saw flavionus in Diocletian’s palace, that’s when I knew. I knew he would take us to Cupid. I was stupid, I should have known. I knew I would have to admit it but I didn’t want to. I’d hid it for such a long time, I haven’t even told Hazel. . . I was, I was worried about what you would think. I thought you might hate me for it, maybe turn everyone against me. I was scared you would tell the others.’ Nico smiled for once, only for a moment. ‘I guess I was wrong about something.’  
Jason smiled too, because that was Nico’s way of telling him he trusted him. ‘You trust me?’  
Nico nodded. ‘Yeah. I trust you. I’m kinda glad you were there, with me. If it had been anyone else, if it had been Hazel especially, I don’t think I could have done it. Also, it’s nice that someone knows. It lifts a little weight having someone know.’ Nico shook his head again. ‘The things I’ve done for Percy Jackson.’  
Nico had done a lot for Percy. Jason obviously knew about leading the Argo II to the doors of death but Nico had also been to Tartarus himself. He’d spent days in a bronze jar, he’d almost died. Percy had told him that Nico had been to the Styx with him, and although Nico had betrayed him to his father, he’d got him out of the underworld prison. Aswell, Nico had chosen to help them in the Labyrinth, meaning their quest succeeded. Without him, they would have all died.  
Jason didn’t say anything for a while and neither did Nico. The sun had set but Jason’s eyes had adjusted to the dark. He looked at Nico. ‘You shouldn’t hate yourself.’  
Nico didn’t say anything then, ‘That doesn’t mean I’m not going to.’  
Nico opening up to him, it warmed Jason heart because Nico trusted him enough to tell him all of this. It was nice. Nico was making it a little easier to be his friend.  
‘Please don’t. No-one else is going to hate you for it, so why hate yourself?’  
‘How do you know they’re not going to hate me for it?’  
‘Because it’s the way you are, and it’s okay.’  
Nico sat and stared at the ground again and then he looked at Jason. ‘You sure?’  
‘I’m completely absolutely sure. But you don’t have to tell anyone you don’t want to.’  
‘I’m not ready to tell anyone yet. Maybe one day. . .’ Nico let that sentence trail off.  
‘Whatever you’re comfortable with, but if you ever do want to tell anyone, I’m here for you.’  
‘Thanks.’ Nico smiled a genuine smile at Jason. ‘Maybe you are my friend.’  
Nico started being a lot more open with Jason. He actually talked to him and stopped trying to avoid him. It was nice. He discovered that Nico was actually really smart, possibly smarter than Annabeth and that Nico had a pretty good sense of humor. His laugh was beautiful, something most people never heard. Jason heard it seldom but he noticed that as Nico drew closer to him and began to trust him more, he heard his laugh more. Nico became comfortable around him.  
Leo came up to Jason one day and said ‘How do you manage to make Nico di Angelo laugh?’  
Jason just replied with a shrug. Leo said ‘I’ve never heard him laugh before; you must be magic, chasing his little cloud of darkness away.’ Jason laughed but Leo was accurate. Jason did chase Nico’s dark cloud away. He chased his demons away.  
After a week, just as they were picking strawberries Nico took a deep breath and said to Jason ‘You can tell Percy I’m back. I think I’m ready to tell him something anyway.’  
Jason smiled because he hoped Nico would say something like that soon. He said he’d Iris Message Percy as soon as they went back to the cabins, which he did. Percy said he drop by on Saturday, which was two days away. Jason hoped Nico didn’t change his mind by then, then again, Nico usually stuck to his word. If Nico said he was going to do something he would.  
Saturday came quickly. Percy came waltzing in about 1pm, looking like he’d just got out of bed, which apparently he had. One of the younger campers came and found Nico and Jason in the sword arena. She looked really nervous like she really didn’t want to come talk to them. ‘Ermm . . .’ She started. ‘Percyjacksonshereandhewantstoseeyou’ She said really quickly. Jason put down his sword and laughed.   
‘Who does he want to see.’ He chuckled as Nico continued sparring.  
The little girl pointed at Nico and then hid her face. She was scared of Nico he realised. Jason went closer to her then said quitetly ‘You don’t need to be scared of him, he’s not that scary. . . well, maybe he is, but he’s not gonna hurt you.’  
Nico put his sword in its sheath. ‘Me?’  
The little girl nodded ‘He’s at the beach.’ She said quietly so that only Jason could hear. Then she ran off. Nico walked up to Jason.  
‘Good Practice?’ Jason said.  
‘Yeah.’ Nico said.  
‘You managed to scare a ten year old.’  
‘I scare everyone. I’m the ghost king.’ Nico said menacingly.  
‘You’re scaring me.’ Jason mocked. ‘Now go and scare Percy. He’s at the beach’ Nico looked at him, as if to say help, I don’t want to do this.  
‘It’ll be okay.’ Jason reassured him. ‘You’re the one that wanted to see him!’  
‘I didn’t want to see him; I said you can tell him I’m back. I wasn’t expecting him to come here to talk to me.’  
But he went anyway. Jason hoped it all went okay. 

_

He walked over the grassy sand dunes and sure enough, Percy was stood there. He had his back to him; he was looking out at the sea. He was still tall, with his blue/black hair and his lanky figure. Nico walked towards him. He was wearing a hoodie and jeans. He still had the same dreamy green eyes and trouble maker smile. His eyes brightened when he saw Nico as he grinned. Nico had hid his feelings for so long that he couldn’t help smile when he saw Percy’s smile. ‘Hey.’ Percy grinned.  
‘Hi.’ Nico replied.  
‘Jason said you had something to tell me?’ Nico said, acting as if Jason hadn’t already told him exactly what that something was.  
‘Oh, er, yeah.’ Percy replied. ‘I’m not sure whether you’ll wanna know, but you should. It’s just, I know you like Annabeth and all so I’m not sure how you’ll take this but I, er, I got Annabeth pregnant.’  
Nico took a moment to process this. Jason had already told him Annabeth was pregnant, but Percy thought Nico liked Annabeth. It was so ridiculous that Nico had to say something. ‘Wait.’ Nico said. ‘You thought I liked Annabeth?’ He let out a laugh, it really was such a ridiculous thought.  
‘Yeah. Isn’t that why you hate me so much?’ Percy said, disgruntled.  
‘I never hated you Percy’ Nico laughed without humor. ‘Why do you think I saved your ass so many times?’  
‘For Annabeth.’ Percy said sincerely.   
‘No, no. I did them for you Percy. I didn’t promise Annabeth any of those things. I promised you.’ Nico said despratley. If he was going to say it he might aswell go all out, let Percy know the full extent. His heart was beating double time, it felt like it was going to burst out his chest.  
‘I don’t get it. So you never liked Annabeth? Why did you do all that stuff for me then?’ Oh gods. This really was it. He couldn’t back out now.  
Nico held his head down and said, deadly quiet ‘I was in love with you. It was always you.’ Nico turned away. Silence for 5 beats then,  
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know.’ Percy said sympathetically. Nico hadn’t planned for it to go this way, but it did. He kept turned away but he could feel Percy’s eyes on his back. When Nico didn’t respond Percy took a step towards him. ‘if I’d known. I’m sorry Nico.’  
Nico turned back to him. ‘If you’d known, what Percy, what would you have done?’ He snapped angrily. He was almost shouting. He was using hand gestures too. Whenever Nico was angry he slipped back into his hand gestures when he spoke, like he used to do when he was little.  
‘I would have . . . I . . . I don’t know.’ Percy admitted. ‘You never hated me then?’  
‘I . . . I should have hated you more than I did, for other reasons than I did hate you for. I should have hated you for Bianca’s death, I really tried but most of all, I hated myself. I hated you for making me feel the way I did about you, but really I only ever hated myself.’  
‘If you’d told me Nico. You shouldn’t have hated yourself, you can’t help who you like.’  
‘Well I still hate myself, telling you doesn’t make it any different!’ Nico shouted.  
‘Well it should!’ Percy shouted back. ‘I could have helped you Nico.’  
‘No, you couldn’t. You should have helped me anyway and you didn’t! I was eleven years old Percy. I was left alone.’  
Percy’s voice was deadly quiet. ‘I tried Nico, I really did try.’  
Nico didn’t reply.  
‘You wouldn’t let me help. You wouldn’t let anyone in.’  
‘Maybe because you’d already broke my heart one too many times.’ Nico was almost crying.  
‘I’m sorry. I really am Nico. I’m sorry you felt that way about yourself and I’m sorry it was all my fault. I’m sorry for Bianca and I’m sorry for all the times I’ve questioned whether your heart was in helping me. I’m sorry that I dragged you into all this mess and I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to help you. I’m sorry for everything I’ve ever done to hurt you and if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, I’ll do it.’  
A few silent tears escaped Nico’s eyes and ran down his cheeks. ‘I don’t want you to do anything for me Percy. I’m sorry too.’ And Nico turned and ran. He didn’t want Percy see him cry.  
He ran over the beach and through the basketball courts and around the edge of the woods all the way to the cabins. His tears really started flowing. He could feel eyes on him bt he ignored them and ran straight into his cabin. He slammed the door and locked it then he sank to the floor with his back to the wall and he cried.  
He cried for a long time. He heard a knock on his door not long after he broke down but he ignored it. The knocking got more and more persistent until it became a shout. ‘Nico, are you in there, open the door!’ It was Percy.  
‘Go away.’ Nico’s voice was hoarse.  
‘Nico, please. I’m so, so sorry.’  
‘I don’t want your apologies. Leave me alone.’  
‘Please Nico, let me in.’ Percy pleaded.  
‘I don’t want to. Go away.’  
‘Don’t hate yourself Nico. It’s not your fault. It’s mine.’  
‘Yes, it is yours so go away and leave me alone.’ Nico didn’t like it, making Percy feel bad, but he just wanted to be alone to get himself together, he didn’t think he’d ever be fully together anymore.’  
‘I’m sorry.’ Percy said one last time. ‘I’m sorry for turning your world upside down and leaving you alone when you needed me most. If you never want to see me again, I understand.’ He could hear the hurt in Percy’s voice.  
‘No, don’t say that. I do want to see you again, just . . . not right now.’  
‘Okay. Sorry.’ Nico heard the footsteps outside and he was alone again. He put his head in his hands and he cried more. He first cried about Percy but then he cried about Bianca then about his mother and everything he’d lost.   
Soon after he had convinced Percy to leave he heard another knock on his door. ‘Nico, will you let me in?’ It was Jason. ‘Please.’  
‘Leave me alone Jason’ Nico pleaded.  
‘No. Sometimes it’s nice to have a friend. You told me that once.’  
‘And sometimes it’s nice to be alone.’  
‘Nico, I heard you shouting at the beach. I’m here for you. I always will be.’  
A fresh wave of tears suddenly overwhelmed Nico. ‘That’s what Bianca told me. A long, long time ago. But where is she now? She’s not here.’  
‘She’s not but I am. Please Nico. Don’t be upset.’   
‘You’re not helping Jason, just go away.’  
‘No. Would you like it if you heard Hazel cry like this, or Percy, or Me?’  
Nico thought about that for a second. ‘No. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to cry.’  
Jason  
Jason banged on the door one last time. ‘Dammit Nico. I’m trying to help.’ And he walked off, angrily.  
He left Nico alone to cry. The poor kid had been through so much but Jason only wanted to help. He wanted to give the guy a friend. Well, maybe it was best to leave him alone for once, Nico might squewer him if he didn’t.

 

_

 

The next morning Jason was up early. He went straight to the Hades cabin and sat on the doorstep. Nico was going to have to leave at some point. Sure enough he came out, at about 9am. ‘Hey.’ Jason exclaimed turning round so he could see the boy standing in the door way. He refused to wear the Camp Half Blood t-shirts and was instead in his regular black one. The skull designs changed, today it was a skull with jewels and stuff, that meant he was missing Hazel. If it was the dancing skeletons he was in a good mood. Jason had started to notice these little outfit choices lately.  
‘What are you doing on my doorstep?’ Nico asked, no emotion in his voice at all.  
‘Are you okay now?’  
‘Why wouldn’t I be okay?’ Nico asked. So he was going to play that game, the pretend yesterday didn’t happen game that Nico really liked to play, like the time he found Percy at Camp Jupiter and he thought I’m going to play the lets pretend the last 4 years didn’t happen game. Well, two could play at that game and this time, amnesia wasn’t involved.  
‘I don’t know’ Jason shrugged. ‘Wanna go train?’  
‘Okay, but I’ll probably beat you.’ Nico smiled. He’d perked up when he realised that Jason wasn’t going to mention yesterday.  
‘You’d beat everyone.’ Jason laughed, lightly punching Nico in the arm.  
Nico laughed at that. His laugh was so beautiful and he looked so pretty when he laughed. It was a rare sight but Jason saw it more than most. Okay, so Jason fancied Nico a little bit, just a little bit. He’d begun to question his sexuality a few weeks before he and Piper had broken up and, well, that was what they’d broken up over, but they were still good friends. No-one else knew, but maybe he should tell Nico.  
Jason had Nico’s sword out of his hand in a minute. That was unusual, it was usually a pretty even match, or if Nico had actually slept and eaten properly, he won quickly. There must have still been things on Nico’s mind. Nico looked so hot, just stood there dumbstruck. He took a step forward to get his sword but Jason took a step forward too, he dropped his own sword on the floor and he kissed Nico. He pulled back immediately afraid of what Nico might do, what he might think.   
Jason took a quick step back. ‘I’m . . . I’m sorry, I had to do that.’ Jason announced awkwardly looking at the floor. He kept looking at the floor then, suddenly there was a hand lifting his chin up and lips on his. Nico kissed him with a passionate hunger, he forced his lips open and Jason melted into the kiss. It was amazing.  
The fact that Nico kissed him surprised Jason. He thought Nico was still hung up on Percy. He obviously wasn’t anyway, the way he was kissing Jason now. Nico let his hands rest on Jason chest and Jason brought his hand up to caress Nico’s neck, then he ran his hands through Nico’s black locks and ran them down his back, stopping at the bottom of his back and pulling nico closer to him so that their bodies were pressed together.   
Nico teased him with his tounge, running it over his lower lip then the roof of his mouth till he finally let their tounges meet. After a minute he pulled away. They were both breating heavily. ‘Have you done this before?’ Jason chuckled.   
‘No, why?’ Nico asked, his defences going up again. He had let them come down for a moment but, of course they were going back up again. It was nice while it lasted.  
‘You were surprisngly good, I’d like to do that again sometime.’ Jason flirted.  
Nico smiled then, and oh gods, it was a sexy smile. ‘How about now?’ Nico asked, his voice sounding so sexy that Jason couldn’t resist kissing him again. This time it was even more passionate than before and Nico melted into the kiss easily.  
That was possibly the happiest moment of Jason’s life. It was probably the happiest moment of Nico’s life too. Jason felt Nico smile against his lips and then he pulled away, still smiling. ‘What does this mean then?’ Nico asked.  
‘I think . . . it means you’re my boyfriend. If you’d like to be.’ Jason said, as smoothly as he could while screaming happily deep inside.  
‘I would like that very, very much’ Nico smiled. It was the biggest smile Jason had ever seen Nico wear and it even reached his eyes. When Nico really smiled, his eyes got this little sparkle in them that was so endearing. Jason wanted to stare into his eyes forever, they held so many secrets and he wanted to uncover every one of them, really get to know Nico, but it would take Nico a long, long time to open up to anyone, even Hazel hadn’t got the full story yet. But Jason was prepared to wait, he was prepared to stick around that long, longer.


End file.
